


Is she more than you bargained for yet?

by stace8383



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25421077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stace8383/pseuds/stace8383
Summary: There's more to Lily Frond than you might think. A series of flash fiction pieces about Lily being more than a bimbo. These aren't necessarily in chronological order, they're just as they occur to me.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. Lily's coming to Recon

Holly glared at the letter and application form on the desk in front of her. She'd known becoming a major would involve more paperwork, but _this_ was beyond the pale.   
_This_ was Lily Frond applying to Recon. Bimbo Lily. Floozy Frond. Holly glared some more.  
The letter attached was non-standard. Lily wrote about wanting to try new things, learn new skills, and be of more use to the LEP.  
'Well, you could hardly be less use,' Holly muttered. She began to toss the application aside, but stopped, looking at the letter in sudden uncertainty. A paragraph was nagging at her: _‘When I joined the LEP, a woman’s place was nowhere, so lending my voice to the AI and appearing in tutorials seemed a step up. At least I was visible. Since then, I’ve seen women including you achieve so much. And I think I can do more, too.’_   
Holly had been judged unfairly herself, when she first applied for Recon, even by people who knew her personally. It was hard to consider the Lily she knew as a viable option, but she couldn’t just dismiss it out of hand. The letter seemed sincere.  
Holly and Artemis spoke almost every day of late. There were LEP training exercises over his land, he had to be kept in the loop. Plus he was handy to bounce ideas off.  
‘Lily Frond,’ he repeated doubtfully. ‘Of course, I’ve never met her personally, but the impression I gather is that she is far more interested in appearances than effectiveness. Recon requires selflessness and a lot of hard work.’ Artemis recalled some of the things he’d seen Holly do, and tried to imagine them being done with long fingernails. He winced as he wondered if Lily would choose to scratch him rather than Holly’s usual choice, the punch in the nose.   
‘She says she wants to be more useful,’ Holly pointed out.   
‘An admirable sentiment, more easily said than achieved.’  
‘But not impossible,’ Holly insisted. Enough people had dismissed her to make her unwilling to do the same to somebody else. Even Lily Frond.  
‘No,’ Artemis admitted.  
‘People can surprise you.’ Holly wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince Artemis or herself.   
‘You surprised me,’ he mused.   
Holly made a sudden decision. After all, she’d never know for sure if she didn’t give it a try. ‘I’ll get her trained up,’ she said. ‘Lily’s coming to Recon.’


	2. Firing Lily

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter owes a lot to user burytheacorn, thanks for the suggestions!

‘You’ll have to cut your nails; they’ll be a nuisance in the field.’

Lily looked down at her manicured fingernails, and nodded. Maintaining them could be a bore, anyway. 

‘Weapons training begins tomorrow. Don’t be late.’ 

Lily had been hired for public relations and media appearances. She knew she looked the part, with her long hair and, frankly, dazzling smile. She took after her mother. But she wanted more. Lily Frond wanted adventure. 

The next morning she was at the shooting range before her instructor. Her hair was tied back out of the way, her nails were clipped short and no longer bright pink, and her face was determined without its usual forced bright beam. 

She approached weapons training the same way she’d approached everything in her life: with a careful evaluation of her abilities and how to put them to use. For her PR job, it had been her appearance and cheerful disposition; she had deployed them to her advantage for several years now and done very well out of them. For shooting, it was her natural balance, hand-eye coordination, and quick thinking. 

‘Do you think I’ll get my transfer?’ she asked her instructor at the end of their hour working together.

‘You’ve got guts and determination,’ Holly told her. ‘Keep at it, and I think you will.’


	3. Interviewing Frond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After receiving Lily's application for Recon, Holly brings her in for an interview.

‘I suppose Trouble put you up to this.’

Lily, utilising years of PR training, didn’t let her surprise show. ‘No,’ she said calmly. ‘I haven’t seen him in a while.’ 

Holly was visibly surprised. ‘He didn’t mention anything. I- I’m sorry.’ 

Lily smiled gently. ‘I think he hopes we’ll patch things up. Poor boy.’ 

Holly’s presumptions about Lily were being turned on their head. Lily had ended things with the upwardly-mobile and undoubtedly good catch, Trouble Kelp? She made a mental note to have a sim-coffee with him later, just to check in and make sure he was okay. Not a date, though, definitely not a date. They’d tried that before and it never went well. 

‘So, Recon,’ she said, getting back to business.

‘You read my letter?’

‘You want to be useful.’

‘I know what people think of me. Looking pretty is my job. It’s not my personality.’ 

Holly paused for a moment to consider what life must be like when all that was expected of you was to look nice. At first glance it seemed pretty idyllic, but she had to admit that life without challenge would actually be fairly boring. ‘What is your personality?’ she asked finally.

Lily turned on her trademark beam. ‘I’m bright and bubbly and I know where the paperclips are stored!’ she chirped with exaggerated cheer, then made a face. ‘Ugh. I’ve got eyes and a brain, Holly, I know what goes on. I see things, I connect the dots. If you want to be uncharitable, you could call me calculating.’ The gleam in her eye made it easy to believe. ‘But essentially, I solve puzzles. I see the pieces and I put them together in my head. Do you remember last month when things were going missing from the canteen?’ Holly nodded. ‘I bet you don’t know why that stopped.’ 

‘No,’ Holly admitted. It had been a frustrating few weeks, with food and utensils in inexplicably short supply.

‘I was the only person who knew that Grub’s girlfriend had kicked him out and he had nowhere to go. You know he can’t cook. He was sleeping under Trouble’s desk. So I... had a chat with him.’

Holly was horrified. Grub wasn’t exactly a friend, but to think that he’d been homeless and starving and she’d had no idea was dreadful. ‘Why didn’t he say anything, ask for help?’ 

‘He was embarrassed. He already gets bullied by almost everybody. Why add more fuel to the fire?’

‘So you just... had a chat?’

‘I solved the problem,’ Lily said in a tone that brooked no further questions. ‘Grub’s private life is exactly that - private. But there won’t be any more missing curry.’ 

Holly was impressed. Lily had shown initiative, assertiveness, compassion, and discretion. Definitely more than just a pretty face. ‘I see. Well done.’ Lily could be an asset to Recon. And to Holly herself, she thought. Good friends were in short supply.


End file.
